The Last Chance

Reserve midfielder Danny Walsh arrived and finished. 1-1. The sideline went quiet. Lucas stared. "How did you know I was going there?" Mason wiped the corner of his mouth. "Before you lifted your head, your shoulder had already turned." Brooks frowned. In the seventeenth minute, the starters attacked again. Brooks dropped to receive the ball and prepared to thread a pass through. Mason suddenly pressed out from the striker position. He did not chase the ball; he blocked Brooks's right-foot passing lane. Brooks was forced into one extra touch, and the reserve holding midfielder won it. Hayes lifted his eyes for the first time. "Again!" he shouted. The intensity climbed.